By Larry Larkin (@larrylarkinsjsu) – Copy Editor | San Jose State football team is warming up before the spring game. (Photo by Aaron Johnson – Spear Photographer)
San Jose State football had signs of encouragement and optimism in its spring game on Saturday.
Junior Matthew Coleman was the most impressive wide receiver in the spring football game.
“I just wanted to finish the spring off strong, focus on the details for my routes and all the plays, and look back on the film to see how I got better,” Coleman said.
The Spartans need to replace Nick Nash, who left after last season for the NFL Draft.
Nash won the NCAA receiving triple crown in 2024, becoming the fourth player in FBS history to earn the college football receiving triple crown. The receiving triple crown is something a player wins for leading the nation in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in a season.
Nash also led the nation in receptions per game and yards per game at the end of the regular season.
Nash was the first NCAA consensus and unanimous All-American in SJSU history when he won it in 2024.
Nash broke two SJSU single-season receiving records in 2024, the touchdown mark with 16 and the receiving mark with 104.
Coleman, along with sophomore Cooper Hoch, will be SJSU’s only wide receivers next season that played on the team last season. Freshman Roy Gardner is another returning wide receiver, but he didn’t play a snap last season.
Coleman spoke about the importance of leadership and how he plans to lead by example.
“I think a lot of the receivers since I’ve been here, they try to see what I do and then do something around that. They’re really just leading by example and helping everyone,” Coleman said.
After starting last season as the Spartans’ backup quarterback to Emmett Brown, senior Walker Eget enters next season as the team’s unquestioned starting quarterback.
“The biggest thing is taking it one day at a time,” Eget said. “If I could do my part to the best of my ability, I gotta trust that the others are gonna do their best to implement their time.”
The chemistry between Eget and the rest of the offense was key coming out of the spring season and will be going into summer workouts and training camp.
“When you look at the guys that we have on offense, it’s a little bit of a ragtag group when you first start off,” SJSU offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Craig Stutzmann said. “And I think with Walker [Eget] being the leader of the group, he shows that if you stay in one place and you’re resilient, you can be successful.”
The familiarity with the offense is something that SJSU head coach Ken Niumatalolo says should be a big help to the team going into next season.
“Some of the stuff that Walker [Eget] was able to do with the receivers and go out and throw and practice on their own, they couldn’t do that last year because they were still learning the offense,” Niumatalolo said. “He could take the receivers out and they can do their own practices because he knew the offense. And so from January to spring practice, we felt like they got better.”
SJSU is scheduled to kick off the 2025 season against Central Michigan on Aug. 28 at CEFCU Stadium.
